Just Another Summer, Right?
by ep-llipses
Summary: -Lili is sick of the same summer experience every year. But, after a new kid arrives and strange things start happening, she starts to think that maybe she shouldn't have wished so hard for change.- Psychonauts, with a mystery twist! Something is changed from the game, can you guess before it's revealed? Perspective is fluid, but will mostly be from Lili's POV. T for language!
1. New Kid- Lili

Lili sat through Oleander's initiation for what felt like the gazillionth time, the glow of the fire stinging her tired eyes, even though she was barely close enough to feel its warmth. Every year, every single summer, the same thing over and over. The only difference between each repetitive oration seemed, to Lili, was that the coach seemed more and more sexually attracted to the brains he discussed. It was gross, but to a kid just starting puberty, it seemed the most likely explanation for the obvious adoration shown when Coach O said the line "damp, curvaceous, undulations." One could only hear that so many times before getting some weird ideas, you know?

Lili was considering testing out her invisibility skills to sneak away. It wasn't her specialty, but she was sure she could pull it off, in the dark like this, and when everyone else was distracted by this year's 'special guests.' Lili resisted a sarcastic snort to settle for a condescending roll of the eyes. "Super secret Psychonaut agents" Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello had been here plenty of times before, throughout her countless summer experiences. Only the newer kids- Maloof, for example- would really care. And the older, more accustomed kids would probably be sympathetic to her plights, if they even noticed she was gone. Which, they probably wouldn't- most of them seemed pretty brain dead at this point, anyway.

She was planning her disappearing act when she overheard Bobby trying to freak Dogen out about the monster of Lake Oblongata. She reassured the younger child, sending a nasty look in Bobby's direction. There was no such thing as a lake monster. All Dogen had to worry about were the telekinetic bears and pyromanic jaguars. Lake monsters were just ridiculous.

Lili didn't have time to seek the logic in this thought before there was a loud _bamp,_ a slight _oof!_, and a lot of rustling in the bushes behind her and her fellow campers. She jumped a little with everyone else, frightened, or at least startled, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't hoping that there _was_ some kind of monster lurking around to spice up the monotony of Whispering Rock. Once she'd learned the basics of each psychic power at the Psy-Cadet level, developing them had been easy and no longer worth any kind of excitement or rigorous commitment, so maybe an all-new psychic creature meandering about the place would make things a little more interesting.

But, no, _that_ couldn't happen, could it? Lili sighed in disappointment when the counselors brought the intruder into the firelight, revealing that it was just another kid around her age. However, her interest was a little piqued when they put him down, watching him twist in the air and land as if he'd done it before. And, though she would never admit it, she went a little weak in the knees at his introduction. _Raz._ Cool name, cool demeanor, cute face...

But that was _not_ going to happen! She absolutely refused to get a crush on any stupid boy at this stupid, rotten camp. Still, when he smiled up on that stage like he knew something nobody else did, when he sat down like nothing had happened, when he used what must have been a clever, powerful brain to talk the adults into letting him stay just a _little_ longer, with that triumphant look of '_I won' _all over his face when he got what he wanted, she couldn't help but -accidentally, mind you- wonder where they might go to on their hypothetical first date.

She was ashamed of herself. This wasn't the Lili Zanotto she knew and attempted to love! This was some pathetic girl with a gross crush on some dorky kid she'd never even seen before. Lili was disgusted. She couldn't look anyone in the eye for the rest of the night.

Her cheeks were red by the time they left for their cabins. If anyone asked, she had been a little too close to the fire. If anyone argued, they'd receive a complementary punch in the face. Her treat.

* * *

_Hello! It's been forever since I've written a fanfic, so sorry if I'm bad at it, but I'm sure it'll get better with practice. (Egh, if I manage to practice.)_

_If you like it so far, I can't promise regular updates, but I can promise that each chapter will be short and, with enough encouragement, often!_

_I don't know if I want to tell you the secret twist, but I will say that it will sneak up on you, slowly. You'll notice differences, here and there, before it jumps out and hits you in the face like a spider on drugs! Not saying that this will be a long fic, no, I tend to write fairly condensed, with few details. Hell, a bunch of content comes from adding a paragraph or two in editing, an afterthought!_

_Anyway, if anyone thinks this would be better with knowing the twist beforehand, I can put it in the summary, but for now it'll be a mystery, okay?_

_See you soon!_


	2. Typical Summer Day- Lili

She saw him walking around camp a lot the next day. He'd done insanely well in Basic Braining- not like she'd watched him, or anything- and actually finished on his first try, before lunchtime. Lili had beat the thing a while ago, but only after a few weeks and countless hours. Even so, she was still required to show up at least once a morning to "keep your skills sharp, soldier!" Ugh, it was so dumb.

She'd talked to the new guy once in Oleander's mind. He'd almost fallen on the flower she was studying, like an idiot, then had the audacity to think she had _his_ best interests in mind! As _if._ Then he'd even asked to see her nightmares, like he _knew_ her! She'd given him the cold shoulder, or at least some kind of joint that had been in the freezer for an hour or two, then she set him back up where he'd fallen from and continued trying to communicate with the coach's mind-flower. It didn't respond much, but it was a pretty weird flower, so she didn't expect much, either.

She had stayed with the plant for a little longer before leaving Oleander's mind to find Raz picking fights with Bobby, the camp clown. More like the camp Dentist's Worst Nightmare. She paused a moment to helpfully point out to the guys the authority figure- Sasha- playing audience, before leaving the place to go do a bunch of nothing, like usual. She passed Kitty and Franke, who invited her to make friendship bracelets with them, but declined. She already had at least one of the scratchy, colorful things for every summer she'd been at Whispering Rock, and she'd already been forced to watch too many times as the two made them for each other nonstop. She wished they'd just confess their undying love for each other, or something, and stop piling pounds of frayed string and cracked beads on their wrists, but she supposed that if they loved friendship bracelets so much that they might as well indulge themselves while they had the chance.

A little time was passed, flowers were talked to, kids were waved to (or scowled at, depending on Lili's general opinion of them) but were ultimately avoided, and rickety wooden boards were stood on when everything else was too pointless to even attempt. This last activity was taking place when, once again, New-Kid-McGee (God that was lame, step it up Lili) once again came around, asking about some stupid, shiny button. He soon came closer, asking Franke and Kitty, who immediately blew him off. After few quips and insults from their end (Lili would have to praise them for that later) Raz smoothly said something back about wanting to know where they shopped so he could buy clothes for his fat sister, and Lili had to think _so_ hard about dying flowers and future summers wasted at camp to keep from laughing. She would _not_ laugh for this dumb boy, she would _not_ hurt the feelings of the people she considered friends, dead roses, wilted tulips...

She focused on the bright red button instead, now that she could see it up close. It looked like it came from the GPC; she surmised that Sasha had given him the thing as a clue to find his, ahem, "secret" lab. "Secret," sure, as if it wasn't printed on the camp map, for Pete's sake.

Lili was wondering about all the things Pete must have for his sake, by now, when she noticed the button was coming closer. That meant that the guy _holding_ the button was coming closer, as well, and that meant he had the intention of asking _her_ about it, like she'd be any friendlier than Bitch #'s 1 and 2! (She meant that in the best of ways, of course.) Raz proceeded to ask about Sasha's "secret" lab, if she knew where it was, and she told him, irritably, that he could just reference his map. Then he spouted some nonsense ("_I _knew that, I just wanted to see if _you_ knew where it was,") and Lili resisted the urge to smack him to next week. Why was she crushing on _this_ idiot? Except that she wasn't, of course she wasn't. Not at all.

Then the subject pointed to the girls making bracelets, carefree as can be. Lili pointed out how stupid the cliché was, but Raz had a different opinion. He might _like_ to have one, he said, and Lili blabbed something that must have been oh-so eloquent ("Yeah, well, that's stupid!"). He didn't seem to notice. In fact, he smiled a little, the kind of smile you can see more in the eyes than in the mouth, and asked if she'd like to measure his wrist, "just in case." Of course, she refused. She didn't need some stupid measurement to make some stupid bracelet for some stupid boy. He shrugged and went on his merry way.

His wrists were about the same size as hers, anyway.

* * *

_Next chapter will switch perspectives, so don't be startled! Stay frosty._


End file.
